Severance planner reviews development process for commissioners; explains annexation, plats and special-use review

Town planner Shaney Porter gave a procedural briefing to the Planning Commission on Sept. 17 outlining the Town of Severance’s development review process and what commissioners should expect when evaluating planning applications.

Porter described the sequence of common applications — annexation and zoning, preliminary plat, final plat, site plan and special-use permits — and explained staff’s role in pre-application review and development-team coordination. She told commissioners annexation frequently takes six to nine months before a public hearing because of state statute notice requirements.

“Generally speaking, when a use is in the first thing somebody calls and says, hey. Can I do this use in that zone district? You go to the zoning code,” Porter said. She explained that if a proposed use is not listed as a use by right in the zoning code, staff will advise whether a special-use permit is required. Porter said the town recently reorganized its land-use code and that some pending applications will be reviewed under the older numbering until the new code is fully adopted and in routine use.

Porter walked commissioners through the difference between a preliminary plat — approximately 75–80% of construction drawings and lot layout — and a final plat, which is the “lots laid in stone” stage and includes development agreements, bonds and infrastructure commitments. She also described site plans as “site-specific” reviews used to evaluate building placement, parking, circulation and architecture when a specific user proposes to build.

Porter noted that special-use permits receive additional scrutiny and public notice because they authorize uses that are more intensive than typical uses in a zone district. She described administrative processes for smaller requests (for example, dividing a large parcel into a few acreage lots) and explained that applicants can request a preliminary concept or sketch review with staff before formal submittal.

On public notice, Porter said staff must meet statutory and code deadlines for mailing and posting; depending on the application, notice distance can be in the 500–1,000-foot range. She urged commissioners to direct members of the public who have questions about a pending application to staff rather than discuss substantive elements with applicants or neighbors, noting commissioners make quasi‑judicial recommendations.

Porter used recent and active projects to illustrate the review steps, including references to Bauer North (annexation/zoning), Northgate Lake (preliminary/final plat work in review) and an upcoming site plan for a veterinary clinic. She emphasized the goal of treating applicants consistently and following the municipal code and long-range comprehensive master plan when making recommendations.

The briefing concluded with commissioners asking clarifying questions about sketch/concept reviews, annexation refusal reasons and timelines; Porter said staff holds development-review-team meetings twice monthly and that applicants may use concept reviews to get early feedback from the town’s planners and engineers.

Porter said the town intends to begin updating its comprehensive plan in the coming year and encouraged commissioners to raise code changes for policy discussion if the current ordinances do not meet community goals.